


Sunset on the Airmid

by samariumwriting



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Books, Fluff, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:46:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25290364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samariumwriting/pseuds/samariumwriting
Summary: Marianne's father asks her to bond with her class, and she doesn't know what to do. When she admits as much, the other Deer decide to start a book club.It involves as much fun - and chaos - as you'd expect.
Comments: 16
Kudos: 31





	Sunset on the Airmid

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this fic for the Rest Day zine (@RestDayZine on twitter)! It published a few months ago and recently rereleased on behalf of another cause, so if you want to support that and get your hands on the whole zine you should consider checking it out :)

Marianne always dreaded reading letters from her adoptive father, and this one was no different. 

‘Dear Marianne,’ it began, ‘I write with all my blessings for your health, as always, but also a task for you. Alongside this letter, I send you a small amount of money in addition to your allowance, but I would like you to spend it on making connections with your classmates. However you do this, I do not mind, but I think you still need a little push to get out of your shell in the way the Edmund family name relies on. As such, I would like you to reply with news of what you have done.  Best wishes,  Harold.’

For a while, Marianne just looked at the letter, her head empty. She had no idea what she could do to appease him. Pleasing him was difficult enough when he didn’t give her something specific to do; if she failed in this it would be a nightmare. So, naturally, she took the letter to someone who always had a plan: Claude.

Claude offered her a smile almost as soon as she entered the classroom. “Afternoon, Marianne. What can I do for you today?”

“Good afternoon,” she replied. “I, um, wanted to ask you for some advice, if that’s not too much of a bother.”

“Fire away,” Claude said, and Marianne watched as his eyes lit up when she explained the problem she’d been given. “That sounds like it could be a lot of fun,” he said.

“I-I suppose…” she said.

“It’s your money, so make it something you want to do, but I’d suggest… have you ever been out dancing in one of the taverns in town?” He winked, so Marianne didn’t  _ think  _ he was being serious, but she never could be sure with Claude.

Marianne felt a blush rise on her cheeks just at the thought of it.“Absolutely not.” She couldn’t imagine anything worse, in fact. “My father would never accept that I did it, even if I did.”

Claude laughed. “Of course,” he said. “I don’t know the Margrave well, but I get the picture. Okay, how about you use the money to buy several copies of the same book, and then we all read it?”

“I don’t know…” she said. “I would like that, but I don’t know if anyone else would want to take the time. We’re all very busy with our studies, after all, and I wouldn’t want to force anyone to-”

“I want to do it!” Raphael called from behind her, making Marianne half jump out of her skin. She hadn’t even realised he was there. He made his way into their conversation, and Marianne was happy to adjust the way she was standing; no matter how kind Claude usually was to her, being under his undivided attention could get uncomfortable.

“Really?” she asked, and Raphael and Claude both smiled at her encouragingly.

“Absolutely,” Raphael replied. “I’m not great with books, but I’d be glad to give it a shot. Make it a fun read, though, okay?”

If there was anyone Marianne had been worried about convincing, it was Raphael, so his words put her at ease a little. The only problem was exactly the thing he’d drawn attention to: how in Fódlan she could make it interesting for everyone?

But, of course, if there was anyone who knew everyone’s tastes, it was Hilda. So she tracked her down (easily enough, because Hilda was assigned to chores that day; she’d be in her room not doing them) and explained the situation to her.

“You’re asking me to find a book that everyone can enjoy?” Hilda checked. Marianne nodded. “I know just the thing! You’re okay with going shopping now, right?”

“I suppose?” Marianne said, which was enough to get her dragged to the book vendor in the monastery’s marketplace, Hilda holding tightly to her arm.

“This one,” she said, pointing at a stack of small books with light green binding. Marianne flipped to the title page to see what it was:  _ Sunset on the Airmid _ . “I haven’t read it myself yet, but I’ve been looking for a good excuse to. A friend recommended it.”

“I trust your recommendation if you trust theirs,” Marianne said, and Hilda smiled back at her as she dug out the money her adoptive father had sent her to buy eight copies of the book. The price was slightly eye watering, but the money he’d sent more than covered it; he was clearly expecting something quite big from this.

From there, Marianne just distributed the book to everyone at the end of their next class, fully intending to leave it at that. If people read it, then that was good. If they didn’t, then at least she’d tried, and she could tell her adoptive father that she’d given a gift to everyone in her class. He’d probably be disappointed, but that wasn’t too different to normal.

“Hang on,” Leonie said, once the last book had been handed over to Ignatz. “What’s stopping everyone from just not reading this? I don’t think I trust everyone to have this done in a week so we can actually discuss it properly. Goddess knows you don’t all do the reading for class.”

Lysithea laughed. “I suppose we could all get together at the same time and read, to make sure everyone is doing it.”

“You’d really spend your time doing that?” Marianne asked.

Ignatz nodded immediately. “I think that would be lovely,” he said. “Everyone should come. It’ll be fun!”

Marianne half expected someone to raise an objection, to say that they just did that in class and there was no reason to extend the time and do it willingly. But no one said anything of the sort, and two afternoons later they were all sitting in a loose oval on one of the lawns in the monastery.

In the centre of their wide circle was a box, dragged over from the side of the gardens, and on top of it was a plate of biscuits brought by Ignatz. Two minutes later, Claude appeared with one of the teapots from the dining hall and a whole heap of different types of leaves. Within, Marianne spotted all the favourites she knew of her classmates; Claude must have ransacked the Professor’s tea supply.

It was nice. An hour passed, and then another, with all eight of them reading in near silence. Once or twice, someone got up to refill the teapot, but otherwise they read undisturbed. Eventually, Ignatz shifted so he was half leaning on Raphael’s shoulder, and Hilda’s head ended up in Claude’s lap. Ignatz’s biscuits had vanished within ten minutes, but Lysithea grabbed the plate to snag any remaining crumbs when she thought no one was looking. Marianne’s eyes met Leonie’s when they both looked away from Lysithea, and she smiled.

Also, Marianne had to say: whoever Hilda’s friend was? They had incredibly good taste in literature. She rarely liked Adrestian literature - and that was clearly what this was - but everything about the novel was captivating. She’d almost forgotten what it was like to read purely for fun.

At the end of the week, everyone had finished the book, so they arranged to meet up in the gardens again. This time, Lorenz brought his personal tea set, and Raphael was the one who brought some baking.

“Well, first off, I want to thank Marianne for picking such a good book for us all to read,” Claude said.

“It was Hilda’s suggestion!” she said. “And you were the one who suggested this in the first place, Claude. You should take the credit.”

“And your father paid,” Claude shot back, but his smile set Marianne’s mind at ease, even with his slightly short words. “But none of that’s the point, really. The point is that this book is beautifully written.”

“It really was,” Ignatz said, a tiny note of wonder in his voice. “I didn’t grow up anywhere near the Airmid, but I felt like I could see every scene. And each moment was full of so much energy and life! It was as if there was a moving painting right in front of me.”

“A moving image?” Hilda said with a laugh. “You say the funniest things sometimes, Ignatz. But you’re right, it was so wonderfully crafted. And the plot was nothing short of masterful, I felt like every page brought another little detail that ended up being important in the end.”

“I doubt we have the same tastes in literature,” Lorenz said, “but I shall have to agree with you there, Hilda. Everything drove the novel along perfectly, though I was particularly moved by the depths of the friendship between the chief protagonists.”

In unison, Claude and Lysithea snorted, and it was all that Marianne could do not to join them. “Lorenz,” Lysithea said, more than a hint of amusement sneaking into her tone, “you know that the protagonists were lovers, correct? That’s what the book was about.”

“I suppose you could read it that way,” Lorenz mused, “but the tradition of the romantic friendship between women is of paramount importance in Adrestian literature, and-”

“‘Within moments, Nephenee was pulled close to Heather’s soft, welcoming bosom’,” Raphael quoted, having opened the book to a seemingly random page. He grinned, and turned a few pages forwards. “‘There was something about Nephenee’s little cottage in the woods that put everything in Heather’s heart at ease. It felt like coming home.’”

Marianne started laughing, and then Raphael turned to another page. “‘Oh, Nephenee!’” he said, bringing his voice up an octave. Claude doubled over in silent laughter, and Marianne caught sight of tears forming in Ignatz’s eyes. “‘I cannot bear to leave. The thought of a man disgusts me so, when I could live out my days at your side and in your be-’”

“I relent!” Lorenz said, his cheeks flushed pink. Marianne didn’t ever think she’d seen him quite so flustered before, and she’d been in the sauna with him before. “Perhaps they were lovers, yes. I just didn’t see them as such when reading the novel the first time through.”

But the battle was lost before it had begun; next, Claude opened the book to the final chapter and read segments of Nephenee’s love letter to her partner. Then Hilda started, acting out Heather’s passionate confession to her love, gesturing wildly and ending with a flourish, standing on her toes to kiss Marianne’s cheek briefly.

Marianne blushed fiercely, but even her reaction was lost in the loud, cheerful chaos that was the Golden Deer. She’d have plenty to write to her adoptive father about, but moments like this...they were more than that. Sometimes, Marianne even thought it might be worth sticking around a little longer to experience a handful more.

**Author's Note:**

> Ty for reading! If you enjoyed, please consider leaving a comment and letting me know. I also have a twitter @samariumwriting, I tweet a lot about fic stuff
> 
> Also please take a look at @RestDayZine!! A lot of hard work went into it and it's a wonderful finished product.


End file.
